Blue Line Fast Freight: Paint Information
Reference / Historic Railroad Paint Color Index
See also Red Line Fast Freight Paint Information
1868
Blue Line refrigerator cars are built to the same pattern of the normal boxcars but double walled and double roofed with 1-ton ice bunkers in each end. They are painted white "to reflect the rays of the sun."
American Railroad Journal 1 February 1868 p102.
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
1867
CB&Q Blue Line cars were painted blue.
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The Troy Reporter (Troy, KS), 7 March 1867
Chicago & North-Western
1873
C&NW Blue Line cars built in this year were painted blue.
,_12_October_1873.png)
Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), 12 October 1873
Great Western Railway of Canada
1866
Painted blue with white lettering.
,_16_November_1866.png)
Ottawa Daily Citizen (Ottawa, ON), 16 November 1866
1873
Painted ultramarine blue with white lettering drop shaded in black.
1873 Great Western Railway of Canada freight car specifications, Library Archives of Canada
Michigan Central
1867
Box cars painted blue.
Dodgeville Chronicle (Dodgeville, WI), 6 June 1867; see Railroad History No.141, 1979
Refrigerator cars painted white.
,_6_June_1867.png)
Dodgeville Chronicle (Dodgeville, WI), 6 June 1867
1869
After the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, Michigan Central relettered its cars to say "From the Atlantic to the Pacific" instead of "From the Atlantic to the Mississippi."
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Chicago Evening Post, (Chicago, IL), 20 July 1869
New York Central & Hudson River Railroad
1867
Painted blue with yellow lettering.
,_9_January_1867.png)
The Quebec Mercury (Quebec City, QC), 9 January 1867
1876
Painted blue with white lettering and black ironwork.
,_10_May_1876.png)
Harrisburg Daily Patriot (Harrisburg, PA), 10 May 1876
Railway World Vol. 20, 1 July 1876
1880
Painted blue with white lettering, black ironwork and brown roofs.
“The Cost of Painting Freight Cars as Affected by their Color," Railroad Gazette, 10 December 1880
Philadelphia & Reading
1882
Painted blue.
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Reading Times (Reading, PA), 30 October 1882
Toledo, Canada Southern & Detroit
1879
Painted blue.
,_3_May_1879.jpg)
The Semi-Weekly New Era (Lancaster, PA), 3 May 1879